Clean up on aisle 10
by Lily Craig
Summary: How much fun could working at Safeway be? Well Bella may just find out. The groceries arent the only things being checked out. ; All human.
1. Chapter 1

**Clean up on aisle 10**

**Chapter 1:**

" I'm going to miss you so much, Bella!" my mom, Renee, cried.

"I know mom. I'll miss you too!" I replied for the millionth time.

"You're sure you want to leave?"

Hmmm. I feel like I've had this conversation before. Oh wait! That's because I have. For the past two weeks before my departure from California to the wonderfulness that is Washington State my mom had been unsuccessfully trying to convince me to stay in California. Much to her avail I had my mind set on moving up north ever since I could remember. It did help that my most favourite Aunt lived up in Seattle, with whom I would be staying with until I could get off on my own.

"Yes, mom. I promise to call every weekend or if anything _really_ important comes up. Promise." one million and one….. "Okay, mom, I'm going now before you decide to lock me in the closet and never let me leave." I stated with a little bit of a hysterical laugh. I knew it was not far from something she would actually do.

I got in my little Honda Accord that was stuffed to the roof with all my belongings. Saying goodbye to my mother was harder than I would have thought. It had always just been Renee and Bella. Bella and Renee. Charlie, my dad, had past away when I was seven in a work accident. He was a California Highway Patrol Officer. The CHP had been his second family. But working in San Francisco had its downsides. Like the uproar of gang activity that cost him his life. I missed him terribly but my mom and I understood what dangers came with being related to a CHP officer and we knew that he died doing something he loved.

As I bid my hometown a final farewell I found that I wasn't at all sad about it. At the age of 20, I was ready to go off on my own. My mother had guilted me into staying long enough. I was ready to be on my own. Id always hated living in California it was too hot for my taste and there were really only two seasons; summer and fall. Every summer we would take a trip up north and every summer I would fall more and more in love with the rainy climate of Washington. I got on to highway 5 that would take me straight to Washington. A sense of relief washed over me as I floored the gas peddle and sped off towards my new home.

Fourteen long hours and numerous stops along the way I was finally pulling up to my Auntie Mona's quaint little yellow house in the middle of nowhere. I had always told people I was moving to Seattle, just because everyone knew where I was talking about. If I had told them I was moving to Forks they would have asked questions so I decided to just go with a common place everyone knew. Mona had already mailed me a key to her tiny farm house because she would be at work when I got there. I decided to just leave my bags for now and walked up the gravel driveway to the bright red door. As I opened the door the sent of leather and vanilla hit my nose. It smelled familiar, comfortable, like I was finally home for the first time in my life.

The front door opened up to the living room which held the most comfortable over stuffed orange couches, two of them in an "L" shape. In one corner there was an old gold coloured standing lamp there was a blue sheer cloth covering the shade underneath. There was no TV which I was quite happy about. Although I brought my own TV and DVD player I was glad not to have the distraction there. Instead of a TV the entire wall was covered in rows and rows of books. Mona and I were so very alike, we could sit for hours and do nothing but read.

From the living room I turned left and walked down the narrow hallway towards the back of the house. Photos of Mona on her beautiful palomino, Biscuit, months before she passed away. Pictures of family but mostly pictures of her only niece, me, unfortunately. I would have to talk to her about taking those down, at least while I was living there. I passed the only bathroom in the house on my way to my room. It was tiled floor to ceiling in pale pink tile. Something I knew Mona disliked but never changed. "gives the place character" she would say. At the very end of the hallway was the linen closet and to the left was my room. It was small, like everything in the house, but I loved it. My double bed had a jade green duvet and matching pillows. The window was directly across from the door to my room it looked out onto the front yard. The dresser was on the same wall the door was on and next to my closet door to my left was the book shelf I had found at a flee market a few years back. The lamp next to my bed was the only source of light in the room aside from the window.

I laid down on my bed and took in the comforting feeling of home. I must have dosed off because when I startled awake to the sound of my cell phone It was dark outside. I reached for my cell phone that was sitting on the night table but I ended up falling with a thud to the hardwood floors.

"Hello?" I replied while rubbing my now sore arm.

"Bella?! Where are you? Why haven't you called? I've been worried sick! Did you make it to Mona's okay? You're not stranded somewhere are you? I knew this was going to happen I should have never let you go. I cant believe th--"

I cut my mothers frantic babbling off before she had a stroke. "MOM! Calm down. I'm here, at Mona's. I guess I fell asleep and lost track of time. No need to send out the bloodhounds."

I heard her give a loud, long sigh. "Well thank God. You had me worried sick."

"Really mom, I'm fine." We talked for a little longer. Her pleas for me to come back home were as subtle as ever, not. "You know what mom, I'm going to have to call you later. I think I hear Mona's car." We said our goodbyes and I promised to call her again this weekend.

I ran out the front door at the sound of Mona's beat up red Ford truck. That _thing was loud enough to wake the dead, I was sure of it. _

"_Auntie Mona!" I yelled as she stepped out of the beast. _

"_Well, well if it isn't my little bell of the ball. My favourite little niece. Bells, how ya doin' darlin'?" growing up in the south had given her quite the twang._

"_Oh, Mona! I'm so glad to be here! Thank you so much for letting me mooch off of you!" I replied with a beaming smile. _

"_Silly little Bella, you can stay as long as you'd like. You know I'd love another set of hands around this place." she said taking me up in a big bone crushing hug._

_Mona and I didn't go to bed until around 3 in the morning. We stayed up talking, drinking hot cocoa, and munching on chocolate chewie cookies from Safeway. I loved every minute of it. Mona had to get to bed though if there was any chance of her waking up at 5:30 am to feed the horses and cows before going off to her job in the city. I wouldn't be helping her tomorrow morning instead I was going to catch up on some much need sleep, unpack and get ready for the daunting task of finding a job in the upcoming week._


	2. Chapter 2

I am soooo sorry about this being late. If anyone cares, if anyone has read this. Lol. But life has happened. I quit my job, working at Safeway (my inspiration for this story) but fear not, I worked there long enough to keep going with this one. If anything it gave me an extra push to continue. I'll be working from home from now on so I'll hopefully be able to write more and more often. THANK YOU to all that added me to the your favourites and such. Xoxo's to all of you.

So I forgot the Disclaimer last chapter.. Even though its on my profile I'm going to put it here for safety's sake…

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Twilight. 

Nuff said. On with it.

**Chapter 2:**

I awoke on Monday morning after a weekend of peaceful sleep. The sun, oddly enough, was filtering in through my bedroom window giving an orange glow to the walls. The pictures in the hallway had been replaced with a lot of convincing to Mona for which I was grateful for. The small kitchen was right off of the living room. Its bright green cabinets were a little blinding first thing in the morning but, like everything in this house, they had character. 

The cabinets weren't very well stocked. Probably due to the fact that Mona ate out practically every night. Luckily I found a box of generic Cheerios and a little bit of milk. I was definitely going to have to go to the grocery store. I didn't mind, I did all the cooking and grocery shopping back in California after my mom tried to cook who knows what for dinner. 

After I ate, I washed my bowl and spoon, no dishwasher, dried them and put them back in the cupboard. I was definitely in need of a shower. A weekend of moving boxes and rearranging my room to fit everything made me stink a little. How very lady-like of me. However the shower that I was so looking forward to taking turned out to be a little dreadful. The water pressure was so hard I couldn't stand under it or with it hitting one part of my body for too long. I knew I was going to have large red welts. The other problem was that the shower head was mounted _really_ low on the wall so I had to bend down to wash the soap out of my hair. I towel dried my hair and put it up into a messy bun, like usual. I always did the minimal amount of makeup. No cover-up just a little eyeliner and a swipe of mascara. I walked down to my room in my towel. Of course no day would be complete without me tripping, I caught my foot on an area rug and fell face first onto the wood floors. Good thing Mona wasn't here or she would have gotten a peep show.

I dressed for comfort, like I normally did. Skinny boyfriend jeans, a red plaid top with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows, and my black converse sneakers. I decided to forgo putting in my contacts this morning and put my black rimmed glasses on instead. Maybe I wouldn't have tripped if I could have seen where I was going. No, probably wouldn't have helped. 

The clock read 11:30 by the time I was done getting ready. Grabbing my brown leather Coach bag I headed out of the house and hopped into my car. First stop, the gas station. I was already running on fumes no need to break down in the middle of the road, that would be embarrassing. I pulled into the local gas station, Roller Billy's, that like everything in this town was close to well, everything. Except Mona's house. Before I could even get out of my car there was a tall scrawny Asian kid coming towards me with I big toothy grin on his face. I was pretty positive that we could pump our own gas here, unlike in Oregon where they did it for you. So I was confused as to why he would be coming over here. 

"Hey!" the kid yelled. "I'm Eric. You must be knew around here. I could do that for you if you'd like." 

By this point he had made it over to me and was definitely breaking the invisible personal space bubble I had around me. "Oh, um, hi. Bella. Its fine I can manage. Thanks though Aaron." I replied. He had really greasy hair and it was kinda grossing me out. 

"Eric." he replied.

"Uhm what?" I replied putting the pump into my car.

"Eric, my name is Eric." he said pointing to the neon green name tag on his shirt. 

"Oh, sorry. I'm really bad with names." I really wasn't I just didn't care enough to remember his. 

"Well I'll introduce myself again. I'm Eric." grinning widely as he thrust his hand in my direction. I took it out of politeness. His hand was cold and clammy and not at all pleasant to be holding. I tried to remove my hand as quickly as possible but he just kept grinning and shaking my hand. "So I was wondering, since your new here, maybe I could show you around sometime. How does tomorrow sound?" he was still holding my hand. I had never been good at telling people no so I was starting to feel even more uncomfortable. Right as I was about to open my mouth to _try_ and tell him no a tall man with russet coloured skin came out. 

"Peon! What are you doing scaring all the customers away? The bathrooms are filthy, go make yourself useful why don't ya." he hollered. Scaring Eric as he dropped my hand, thank god, and ran off in the direction of what I assumed were the bathrooms. 

"Hey, sorry 'bout that. He's harmless really. Thinks he has a way with the ladies." he laughed. I giggled and blushed. "I'm Jake." putting his hand out. I shook it and unlike Eric he dropped it after a quick up down. 

"Bella." I replied.

"Mona's niece! Oh! Well welcome to Forks. I work on Mona's beast from time to time. Well more often than she'd like to admit, but hey, you've seen _the thing_."

"Yeah, it's a beast." Right then the pump clunked off and I jumped. Jake chuckled-coughed. "Well, I should get going. Nice to meet you Jake."

"Yeah, I'll see you around Bella." He replied as I started getting into my car.

Safeway was really close to Roller Billy's but that wasn't very surprising. Unlike in California the parking lot was almost completely empty except for a few scattered cars that I assumed belonged to the employees. I grabbed one of the stray carts that was half way up on one of the planters and pushed it towards the front doors. A "Now Hiring- enquire within" sign was sitting outside of the doors. Maybe it was a sign from some higher power. I had worked at the Safeway in California for a short period when I was in high school I'd almost be a shoe in for the job. 

The application computer was to the right of the front doors next to Starbucks. I decided to give it a shot. There wouldn't be any harm in at least applying. Half hour later and what seemed like a million pointless questions later I was finally finished. After hitting apply I grabbed my cart and came to do what I had originally came to do. I always started in the produce section and worked my way down each and everyone of the sixteen aisles and going to the four departments. 

When I got to aisle ten, the soda/drink aisle, I went to go grab a bottle of pop off the top shelf. I had to stretch up on my tippy toes to reach the much needed Dr. Pepper. I finally got a little grasp on the 2 liter bottle but on the way down it slipped out of my hands and dropped to the floor. I watched it drop in what seemed like slow motion, as the cap broke off and soda pop went everywhere. Dammit I couldn't go anywhere without causing some sort of destruction. Right then a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes came running up to me looking a little frantic. 

"Oh my God! Are you okay?!" The boy asked. 

"Yeah I' m fine. I am so sorry about the mess!" I said, blushing a little. 

"Oh, its fine. That's what I'm here for. My name is Mike by the way." thrusting his hand in my direction.

What was with these over- eager guys here? "Bella." I said putting out my hand. But before he could grab his hand the most lovely voice came over the loud speaker. 

"Mike! Immediate clean up on aisle ten. Wet spill." the voice called out sounding a little amused. He withdrew his hand from the air before turning away grumbling something about Edward always ruining the perfect moment. Edward, hmm. So now I had a name to go with the angelic voice I had heard. I was a little bored so I decided to go to all the departments to see if _Edward_ looked as good as he sounded. 

Produce, meat and seafood, and the bakery were all a bust. No Edward. I had almost just given up I didn't want to seem stalker-ish but as I rounded the corner from the bakery I saw the most beautiful man, if you could call a man beautiful, maybe handsome was the right way to describe him. But handsome didn't seem like a profound enough word to describe the bronze haired green eyed man I saw standing behind the deli counter. He looked up and caught me staring. I looked down, embarrassed and blushing, and ran into a display of bagels. Of course I fell backwards right onto my bum knocking down the display in the process. Before I could salvage any dignity I had left after my disastrous shopping trip the bronze haired God was before me with an outstretched hand. 

"Are you alright?" a half smile was breaking out over his face.

"Uh-uh, ya huh. Fine. Yeah." Wow Bella. Talk much? 

He smiled and helped me to my feet. Grabbing me around my waist to steady me. The sudden spark that passed through me when he had his hands on around me startled me out of the stupor that he put me in. I took the opportunity to glance at his name tag. _Edward. _He looked better than he sounded on the loud speaker. 

"Hey! Eddie!" a man yelled, "The chickens need to come out!" Edward dropped his hands at the sudden outburst from his co-worker. 

"Have a good day miss. If there's anything I can help you find, just let me know." he said while he started turning away.

"Thanks, I'll let you know." I replied after I had found my voice. I watched as he walked away back to the deli counter. That could have gone a lot worse, I thought. I continued my shopping finishing out my shopping trip without any more catastrophes. Checking out took longer than I had originally thought. Business had picked up since I had first arrived. 

"Paper or Plastic!" the courtesy clerk hollered. 

"Paper, please" I replied. The Cc looked a little annoyed. I knew the feeling. It was always a damper to bag with paper because it _always _took longer. I didn't mind though, I would wait a little longer just to save the environment a little. Lauren finished bagging up my groceries.

"Would you like help out?" she snapped.

"Oh, no. No, thank you." I replied. 

I was walking out the doors when an elderly man with white hair and chalky skin came "running" up to me. 

"Miss! Miss! Excuse me!" He yelled.

"Yes? Oh dear! Did I forget something! I'm so sorry!" I said looking down at my cart.

"Oh, no. Your Isabella Swan, right?" he asked.

"Uh, yes, that's me. Can I help you?"

"Well my dear, I'm Aro, the manager of this store and well, you're exactly what we're looking for!" Aro said with a smile.

"What exactly are you talking about?" I asked, confused. 

"Your application came rather quickly to me. There's an opening in the bakery right now, I'd like to offer you the position." he stated.

"Wow! REALLY?! Oh, thank you! Don't I need to have an interview or anything?"

"No that's not necessary. When can you start?"

"When do you want me to start? I asked.

"How does Wednesday sound?"

"Oh! That sounds great!" I squealed.

"Great. Come in tomorrow and we'll get you all set up, okay?" he smiled and turned to walk away.

"Okay, sounds great! Thank you so much!" I said to his now retreating figure. I walked in the now steady downpour to my car and unloaded my full cart of groceries into my trunk. After putting my cart into the closest cart caddy I hopped in my car completely soaked and started the drive home. I felt like I was on cloud 9. I got a job, which didn't take hardly any effort at all and I met the most beautiful man, that I was now going to be (in a round about way) working with. I was getting closer to home ten minutes later when Framing Hanley's Lolli Pop remix rang out through my speakers. It was currently one of my favourite songs. What a way to end one of the most perfect days of my new life.

**A/N: I'm working on the next chapter as we speak. I'm not sure when it'll be out 'cause I'm leaving for Hawaii in a couple days. But I'll try to get it out soon. **

**Song for Chapter 1- Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. **


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